GOVERMENT RAILWAY POLICY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8545, 27 March 1908, Page 7

GOVERMENT RAILWAY POLICY.

STATEM£i7 T - BY THE PREMIER - Per Press? Association. AtfCKLASw Marcl ? 26 - A deputation consisting el . noai /y. R Ol . l l e hundred members df the AfceklanJ KaiJ " way" League waited upon th» Preiniei _ , day to urge the claims v of tho provincial, railways.

Mr G. L. Peacccke, touching on the Main Trunk Line, said that they all recognised that the Government was doing all in its power to complete tho connection between Auckland and Wellington by Ihe end of next year; Efforts, however, should be made to hurry on the contract for tho .Makatote viaduct. He mentioned that with regard to the proposed connection with the main line to Taranaki there was a suggestion to deviate to a point further south than originally intended. It was felt there that the Ongaruc connection was tho most advantageous Ho thought work might be commenced from the Ongarue end as well as from Stratford. Coming , to the North Auckland lino, everyone ■fully appreciated the efforts of the Government in pushing on this line. Tho non-completion of the Main Trunk, however, prevented the Government from spending as much ae they would otherwise desire. Its completion, however, was an urgent necessity, for when the lino reached Maungatoroto it would become much more profitable, and for this reason he urged that the vote of this line should be as large as possible. Referring to the East Coast railway, he said that this lino would open up large areas which were simply held back by the lack of communication. Sir Joseph Ward, in reply, said that in the first place ho wanted to say that there could bo no doubt that the North Island Main Trunk Line would be carried through in the time stated by the Government, unless there was a very bad winter, which would make it impossible for work, to be carried oh. But even in this case, tho delay would be a short one. The line should be connected with Auckland before Christmas next. (Applause.) There was £330,000 in course of expenditure now, and another £170,000 would.be spent by the Government before the completion of the railway. An expenditure of £500,000 upon railway construction within this period was unprecedented in New Zealand. One railway in the north which should be completed—and he had not heard its claims urged that day—was the closing of the gap between Kawakawa and Hukerenui. Here were two ends of a railway line which were paying, but which would be doing far better when completed. One of the disabilities under which the North had suffered, as compared with the South in railway constructions, was that when Sir Julius Vogel's Public Works policy was in progress the lines in the North were delayed by the fact that the lines could not bo made through a portion of the Native owned country, but the Government was doing its best to overcome the disparity. Regarding the rumour that the Stratford-Ongarue route was to be changed, he said that nothing definite had been decided. The line would receive the fullest consideration of the Government, which was doing all in its power to assist those in the North to obtain facilities which they recognised were required. They would try to treat the country as a whole fairly, and there would be no "political" line.